Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-03-18
CHEWING Is Rad FORM NOW.
Men Are Taking to Substitutes How Roscoe
tonkliug Broke Upa Habit.
NsNN y MI,

tonkIing Broke Up Il Habit.
New York Sun.
Manufacturers of tobacco say that the
habit OF chewing is rapidly becoming as
obsolete as that OF snuff taking, except
among workingmen. You will find some
OF the older mea of wealth and refine
ment who chew nowadays" SAID a large
dearler, but they acquired the habit
years ago, when 1t was not thought vulgar
or dlsrefutable to chew. Some of the
older Judges chew, aud there are mem
bers of the supreme court of the United
states who were not easy ON the bench
unless they had a quid. very few
ciergymen use tobacco in this way, and
not few of the older lawyers and other
professional men of years. But in the
younger generation of cultured men of
good manners there are very few, com
naratvely, now to be found who chew.
The young men of to-day rarely acquire
the habit, and predict that within the
next few years users of the weed in this
form will be only those who belong TO tne
less cultivated society. 1t is now regard
dvery bad form to chew, though thirty
years ago it was not. No; chewing is 90
ing the way of snuff f-taking.
Many of our most prominent public
men fought hard to overcome this habit.
In Chicago ond St.IOu,s chewing is now
regarded as vulgar by persons who make
any pretensions to social standing, and
many of the devieces employed by men
TO overcome the habit are amusing At the
late trial of Maxwell in ST. Louis the three
prosecuting officers were noticed con
stantly chewing during the trial, and
on .,F tl,aVy 4. =
spruce gum, and we are doing it to break
the habit of chewing tobacco, and if you
will notice on the street You will see three
men out of five Il mean, of course, those
who are not workingmen) vigorously
working their jaws. They are chewing
gum, for there seems to be Il tacit agree
m6nt among gentlemen here TO quit chew
ing tobacco"
Many men now carry strip of slippery
elm III their pocket, and when they feel
the old craving come over them, then
they bite off a bit and chew il. A down
town druggist said that he sold a great
deal OF licorice root to men who were try
ing to break the tobacco habit. Roscoe
Conkling used to chew, although he never
ssed tobacco prepared for chewing. He
had habit of taking good cigar,
ing the cut end of one of the halves be
tween his teeth, he would chew it. He did
not take what Ben Butler is so fond of,
dry smoke, as it is called, but he chewed
tho cigar. He determined to break this
habit, and TO help him the more easily to
conquer it, he filled his pockets with loz-
enges or other choice candies every
morning. Conkling has Il very sweet
tooth =,l j. of mad I.r
The last three or four years he was in the
senate he was rarely without lozenge or
other candy in his mouth. Senator Eaton
and Senator Jones, of Florida, were both
pets of Conkling, and both being very
fond of candy, almost daily performed
this little comedy: Eaton would stroll
over TO Conkling's desk and chat few
moments, never failing to eyince the pro-
found admiration for ConkIing that he
had. BY and by he would say: "Conklipg,
what do you do when your throat is aly
and huskyY Thereupon ConkliDg would
produce a box in which were the sugar
plums, and Eaton, taking two or three,
would stroll leisurely away with one in
his mouth. BY and by Jones would walk
across the aisle and make his obeisance
to Conkling. Then he would cough and
hem and clear his throat. Out would
cOme the box, and Jones made himself
happy with two or three candies after
sufficient hesitation about taking them.
Once when Jones, of Nevada, was making
a speech, and his voice grew husky,
Conkling arose, pulled his box of con
fections from his pocket. and presented
it TO the miner, with as much fOrmality
and dignity as though comforting the or
der of the Garter. He afterwaEd told
Jones that if he would eat more candy
and use less tobacco he would have no
trobbl, with his voice.
But if the habit of chewing is decreas-
ing, that of smoking is gaining. The
coming generttion, by all signs, will all
smoke.